Morris Press Cookbooks

Q. Can individuals or families publish a cookbook?
A. Yes, most families publish their cookbook as a keepsake and not for fundraising purposes.The only processing difference is in the payment terms. Individuals and families are required to pay one-half the cost at the time the order is placed, with the balance due before the books are shipped.

Q. How much money can we make?
A. A small order of 200 books can earn around $850, whereas a larger order can earn up to $50,000 or more. See our price charts for costs and suggested selling prices.

Q. Can we publish fewer than 100 cookbooks?
A. No, we do not accept smaller orders. It costs as much to print 10 books as it does to print 100 books.

Q. What is an average size cookbook?
A. The average cookbook contains 300–400 recipes.

Q. We want to type our own recipes. How can I get a copy of typensave®?
A. If you have our Cookbook Kit, typensave® is on the interactive CD, or you can download it from our website. You can also submit recipes online at www.typensave.com.

Q. Do recipes with variations or more than one part count as one recipe?
A. Yes, as long as they are variations or part of the same recipe, such as icing. They will not have titles or appear in the index. Exceptions are starters (e.g., sourdough starters) or other recipes that are the base for several recipes; each use of the starter is a recipe.

Q. If a recipe is too long for one Recipe Collection Sheet, what do we do?
A. You can continue the recipe on another Recipe Collection Sheet or blank sheet of paper of the same size (front only). Staple them together. Do not use the back of a Recipe Collection Sheet or fold a large recipe that’s taped to a Recipe Collection Sheet.

Q. Must we use your Recipe Collection Sheets?
A. No, you can use plain paper of the same size or your own recipe forms. Include only one recipe per sheet (front only) and follow the guidelines provided on pages 14–15 of our Cookbook Publishing Guide. Recipe Collection Sheets are provided FREE for your convenience in our starter kit or you can download them from our website.

Q. Must recipes be typed?
A. No, as long as the recipes are clearly printed in ink, not in pencil, and recipes are legible.

Q. Do you edit our recipes?
A. Only if errors are obvious and we are typesetting your recipes. Otherwise, we typeset them exactly as they are written, run a spell-check, and convert all measurements in the ingredients list to our standard abbreviations. We do not edit any metric measurements. Please note: If you submit your recipes using typensave® software or typensave® online, we do not edit or spell-check anything. Regardless of who typesets your cookbook, you will always receive a FREE proof to check all recipes before we print your cookbook.

Q. Can we use brand names in our recipes?
A. You may use brand names (Jell-O®, Hershey’s®, Nestle®, etc.) in your ingredients list. Do not submit any recipe titles that are trademarked.

Q. Can we use recipes from magazines, newspapers, or other cookbooks?
A. Yes, you may submit recipes from various sources. The exceptions are trademarked names which cannot be used, such as Killer Brownies®, Runza®, Derby Pie®, and Nieman Marcus® Cookies. You may be infringing on a copyright if you use complete works, such as all the recipes from one cookbook.

Q. Can we use artwork from other sources for our cookbook?
A. Artwork from greeting cards, books, and other sources is usually copyrighted, and you must obtain permission to use it. Please download our Art Release Form (PDF 32K) and submit with your order if you are furnishing custom artwork or photos. Likewise, all of our artwork is copyrighted and is available only to our customers.

Q. Can we use divider category titles other than the standard category titles?
A. Yes, if you are creating custom dividers. You will not be able to use a full-color stock divider set because they are preprinted and cannot be changed.

Q. Can we change titles and subtitles on full-color stock covers?
A. Yes, unless otherwise stated, you can have your title and subtitle printed in black ink FREE, but you cannot change the full-color stock covers in any other way.

Q. If we publish the cookbook, why does Morris Press Cookbooks place its copyright on the title page?
A. Many of our customers use our stock cover and divider sets, recipe formats, and cooking hints. Our copyright protects this material. Recipes cannot be copyrighted. If you are sending your custom cookbook press-ready and using your own artwork, you have the option of copyrighting your own book. Call our office for details.

Q. What is a press-ready cookbook?
A. Press-ready recipe pages are pages already typeset using correct margins and page sizes. Final printed pages will look like your press-ready pages. We prefer a digital file converted into a PDF, but will also accept a hard copy as long as our margins and specifications are used. This is very important because unless your pages are prepared and sent properly, we won’t be able to use them. The same is true for a cover. Download our Press-Ready Cookbook Guide (PDF 1.3M) for complete specifications.

Q. Can we save money by sending our cookbook press-ready?
A. Probably not. Because of the efficiency of our recipe formats, we can fit more recipes in fewer pages than most press-ready cookbooks. Since more pages results in higher cost, it could actually cost you more to send your cookbook press-ready if you end up with more pages than we would. However, you will have more design control and save some production time since your cookbook will not require typesetting. Call our office for pricing and details on how to send press-ready material. You can also download our Press-Ready Cookbook Guide (PDF 1.3M).

Q. How does a 10 percent overrun or underrun affect our order?
A. Your cookbook goes through many stages during which spoilage may occur. To compensate, we print more than you order. The books not lost in spoilage will be sent to you. If too many books are lost in spoilage, we may ship less than your order. You will be invoiced for the books you receive, minus your 3% FREE books.

Q. How long do you save our cookbook, in case we ever want to reprint?
A. Your cookbook material is digitally saved for 10 years.